Staff Commitment Form
February 6, 2010 by Rebecca "Palais" Jess
Filed under > Staff
If you have been hired for the spring and/or summer of 2010, then this is where you can find a link to our Staff Commitment Form.
Just click here and you’ll get to a page where you can print off your form. Then be sure to sign it, date it and send it off to Cairn within 7 days of receiving your job offer.
Congratulations! We’re so happy to have you on board!
Time to hire our team!
January 27, 2010 by Rebecca "Palais" Jess
Filed under > Staff, Blog
Photo: Travis "Zoic" Allison
Want to be part of an amazing team? Want to work somewhere that values play and laughter? Want to find magic in the mundane? Want to experience the most wonderful summer of your life?
Then look no further.
Cairn in looking to hire its spring and summer staff for the Baysville site. Applications for Resource Staff were due on January 15th and applications for Counselling Staff are due on February 5th. To view our applications, just click here.
Once applications are in, there will be a mandatory hiring day for all applicants to attend:
Resource Staff: January 23rd from 10-4 at Morningside High Park Presbyterian Church
Counselling Staff: February 15th from 10-4 at Leaside Presbyterian Church
These hiring days won’t be like your typical job interview. As a group, we will play games, share stories, take risks, embrace new challenges and work both as a team and as individuals to gain perspective on how we will mesh as a potential body of staff this coming spring and summer at Cairn.
Still interested? Then we look forward to receiving your application in the mail and seeing you on hiring day, ready to play and share!
Announcing the New Co-Director of Cairn
January 3, 2010 by Chantal "Match" Jackson
Filed under Blog, Directors
Rebecca “Palais” Jess
The Synod Camp Board is very excited to announce the hiring of Rebecca (Palais) Jess as the new Co-Director of Cairn Presbyterian Camping.
- Rebecca “Palais” Jess
Rebecca has been selected because of her many attributes and skills, not the least of which include her love of Christian Camping Ministry (learned at Cairn), her positive energy, her vision of where she sees Cairn being able to go in the future, her clear direct communication style; her experience in teaching, her ability to work with the public…to name a few…
The Synod Camp Board is very excited to stand behind and support this new Co-Director team of Chantal “Match” Jackson and Rebecca “Palais” Jess as they start their working relationship together. We are very excited as we know these two people have such a passion for ensuring Christian Camping Ministry as we know it at Cairn; and we have great faith that they will continue to evolve it from the treasured entity that it is now, to a place where even more children and families will be able to experience Gods love.
Chantal and Rebecca will officially commence their working relationship together on January 4, 2010.
Blessings to all our campers and families and friends over this past Christmas season, and wishing everyone a wonderful 2010.
Ruth MacLeod
Convenor
Synod Camp Board
Staff Applications & Re-Applications for 2010
December 4, 2009 by Chantal "Match" Jackson
Filed under > Staff, Blog
It’s Staff Application time. They have arrived!
Please find the appropriate application and send it in. Please note all application deadlines, dates of hiring days and where to send all applications when completed.
We look forward to reading all applications and to our 2010 Staff.
Happy Applying!
Assistant Director Application
Goodbye Taps
It is with great sadness that we announce the retirement from Cairn of Adam “Taps” Brown. It is time for him to travel new roads and discover where else God is calling him. Although we will miss him greatly, we wish him the very best in his new adventures and know that he will continue to do great and amazing things. Cairn has benefited immensely from the 10 years he has served us; we have been so blessed and inspired by his work, his creativity, his innovation and his faith. He will be hard to replace.
No matter where he may be, Cairn will always be a place Taps can call home.
Thank You Topaz.
October 9, 2009 by Chantal "Match" Jackson
Filed under Blog, Directors
As we gear up for Cairn’s 80th Anniversary, it’s important to recognize the circumstances that have allowed us to be successful for so long. There have been many essential ingredients, but over the last 15 years the torch has been carried by Beth “Topaz” Allison. Together with Zoic, her husband, Beth has made camp into a place that many of us consider a second home. Yes, she has raised camper numbers and introduced new programmes and carefully shepherded Cairn into existence – but those are only the most visible of her successes. I want to tell you about a few more. I’ll present my list: Camp According to Topaz; or: Camp Done Right.
- People come before programmes. The emotional, physical and spiritual needs of individuals and the community are more important that goals of any single programme. Are the campers too tired? Cancel your wonderful evening programme and send them to bed!
- Everyone is welcome (and welcomed). We say, “welcome to camp” – but it doesn’t stop there. When our staff members arrive, there are welcome signs on the doors of their rooms. When campers arrive, they are ALWAYS “on the list” (even if we somehow missed them in our pre-camp counting). When guests or alumni arrive, there is always time to say hello and to make them feel welcome.
- The 4 S’s. Nothing has shaped camp more than this simple set of questions, written by Beth in her early summers at Glen Mhor. The best part? It’s a tool we give away freely! We encourage our campers to use the 4S’s to make decisions, we encourage other camp directors to borrow the 4S’s and use them to make their own camps better. The 4S’s define the way we do things at camp – they are our operating principles.
- Camp work is done by professionals. For the staff, camp is not just a fun place to spend the summer. Camp is a place where hard, hard work is done by people who are devoted 100% to the cause of Christian community and youth ministry. There is no wavering from this ideal – not even when it’s raining for the 14th straight day or when the last child leaves site…camp is always run by professionals (and I think it shows).
- Faith is a journey, questions are good, Jesus loves you. Beth’s faith is remarkable, as is her ability to encourage growth in others.
2009 was Beth’s last year at camp, at least as our full-time Director 
We say goodbye to a friend, a leader and someone who knew how to make camp run perfectly, even when it was hard, hard, thankless work.
Thank you, Topaz. For everything.
Soya at CY09
July 24, 2009 by Chantal "Match" Jackson
Filed under > Staff, Blog
Thanks Alex for posting this awesome shot of Soya at Canada Youth 2009:
(photo credit: Alex Luyckx)
Circle of Song 2009
Choir members of St. Paul’s Nobleton, and St. Andrew’s Brampton joined Dolce and a few of our staff for Circle of Song. The participants spent all morning and afternoon teaching and sharing songs and making beautiful music that I could hear all the way from my office in the Thicket. At lunch time Circle of Song and Jr. High Retreat shared songs with each other. Match’s father, Ken Jackson took some fantastic pictures that I will post here if I can get my hands on them soon!
Circle of Song is one of our favourite events here at Cairn. Next year bring your choir to sing and praise with us!
Baysville Staff Manual (Glen Mhor & Iona)
Here is our staff manual for both our Baysville programmes, Glen Mhor and Iona. This extensive manual is part of the training for our spring and summer staff members.
Even if you are not a staff member, you are most welcome to read it and see just a bit of what our staff members must know.
Staff Training Modules 2009
April 28, 2009 by Chantal "Match" Jackson
Filed under > Staff
Hello Staff (and everyone else)!
We’re thrilled to present your Training Modules for 2009. Attached to this post you will find both the full Module Package (PDF) and the Quiz for module #2 (.DOC).
These modules will prepare you for an excellent season of camping. Each one focuses on a part of the job we think is important, and each module is challenging in a slightly different way.
We made sure to make things colourful, multimedia (videos, newspaper articles, etc.) and easy to manage.
If you have any questions, please get in touch with Topaz, Taps or Match. We’ll help you through it.
Remember – all modules are due May 31st. But do one each week and you’ll have no trouble at all.
CAIRN Staff Manual Quiz 2009 (.doc)
